THE FIANNA FÁIL STORY.......The Rise And Decline Of Fianna Fáil , by Kevin Boland - Mercier Press.
Seán Lemass And The Making Of Modern Ireland , by Paul Bew and Henry Patterson - Gill and Macmillan.
By Roy Johnston.
From 'Gralton' magazine, Aug/Sept 1983.
The neglect of the North by Jack Lynch's (and indeed all previous) Governments , and their insensitivity to the issues raised by the Civil Rights movement , had produced an opportunity for a regenerative "....caucus which insisted that this was our business, the moment of truth for the Fianna Fail party..".
The elimination of that caucus by Jack Lynch (on a tip-off originating from British Intelligence, which monitors all shipments of arms into Ireland, legal or illegal) laid the basis for what Boland calls "...Mark II Fianna Fail.." which deploys "....with ever-increasing efficiency the full resources of our security forces along the border imposed by the foreign enemy, where they act on our behalf in concert with Her Majesty's army to defend the integrity of Her Majesty's realm....the case for the ending of the Union....has been officially withdrawn by the Mark II government.....(replaced by)......the policy of Cumann na nGaedheal, the one-time government under contract with the enemy to maintain his overlordship."
The roots of this betrayal go back to the Lemass period , and indeed to the de Valera period , and are there to be seen in the Bew-Patterson analysis.......
(MORE LATER).
THE PETER BERRY PAPERS....... The Top Secret Memoirs of Ireland's Most Powerful Civil Servant : Dirty Tricks, Election '69/ Spying on a Unionist Politician/ Keeping the (State) Taoiseach informed/ The Garda Fallon Murder/ Advice to Jack Lynch- 'Fire the pair of them...'/ Vivion De Valera's advice to O'Malley/ Rumours of a Coup D'Etat/ The Internment Plot, November 1970/ Secret Meeting with William Craig.From 'MAGILL' magazine , June 1980.
" Towards the end of September 1969 , I suffered a number of momentary seizures in which I lost power of movement - I was medically examined on September 26th and was ordered to hospital fortwith. The doctor's receptionist failed to get me a private room in Mount Carmel Hospital, as I wished, and I asked to be left to my own devices.
While at home, making arrangements by phone to enter Mount Carmel on the following day, I received a phone call from Mr Haughey asking if a watch could be kept on the movements of a prominent Unionist politician who had arrived from Belfast. In the event , I was able to tell Mr Haughey on Saturday afternoon that the Unionist's visit was without political significance and that his car was now heading for the border.
In order to impress Mr Haughey with the efficiency of 'S Branch', I told him that after dinner in his hotel on Friday evening , the Unionist politician and his wife had gone for a stroll in neighbouring streets , that they had spent some time looking at bric-a-brac in the windows of the Anna Livia Boutique in Dawson Street (run by a woman named Petersen whose husband was Press Attache in the German Legation during the war) , that the politician had retired early having ordered two bottles of tonic water to be sent to his room , that he had gone straight to the races (Curragh?) on Saturday morning and on his return journey had passed through Dublin without stopping....... "
(MORE LATER).
UNTROUBLED BY INTEGRITY - a flavour of the State we're in and why we're in the state we are in.....
Imagine this scenario : a State Government Minister with responsibility for Communications awards a mobile-phone operating licence to one of several companies competing for same. The losing competitors express concern at the manner in which the award was made but the politician concerned , and his political colleagues, attempt to dismiss those concerns as 'sour grapes', even though it is known that a professional political 'fundraiser' , a (Northern-based) property speculator , a legal practioneer from a jurisdiction other than Ireland and an Irish accountant had all played a part in securing the 'win' for the company and were also involved in 'advising' the politician on how best to spend a recent 'windfall' he had come into - 150,000 Irish Punts (worth approximately 190,500 Euros today) , which passed-through various banks in Jersey and the Isle of Man. Questions were asked by the 'Licence Losers' about that sum of money but the politician involved dismissed their concerns and stated that the money in question represented "loans" which he intended to invest in property abroad.
The 'sour grapes' people were not at all happy with the picture they believed was being painted and initiated further inquiries resulting , 14 years later (at a cost of about €150 Million to the taxpayer!) , in a legal finding, that the politician involved - the then State Communications Minister - had "assisted" the (then soon-to-be) winning company with their bid , encouraging the 'sour grape licence losers' to begin a legal action seeking a multi-million payout in compensation - which, again, the State taxpayer will somehow or other be found liable for.
Meanwhile , the wealthy , well-groomed and perma-tanned politician at the centre of this 'moneyfest' is still 'on the loose' , operating as an 'independent (non-party)' Leinster House member whilst the owner of the 'winning' company is now a billionaire : both are loud in declarations denying any wrong-doing and, this being the politically corrupt backwater State that it is, neither will suffer financially , politically or spiritually.
Could such a scenario exist , even in this morally-bent little backwater of a State....?
Sharon.
